We TRIED to Make Your Life Easier. We Really Did.
Central PA family fun is getting a makeover, and this time we are dividing it the way local families actually understand it: BY. THE. RIVER.
The TL;DR
We’re going from three confusingly divided Macaroni KID publications to TWO that make actual Central PA sense: Carlisle & the West Shore for everything west of the Susquehanna, and Hershey & Harrisburg for everything east.
Your home-side newsletter will make it easier to find the camps, playground meetups, pizza nights and last-minute family fun closest to you.
But we absolutely encourage you to subscribe to BOTH. So many concerts, festivals, attractions, special events and truly exceptional doughnuts really are worth crossing the river for.
But for some reason, the Summer Fair was in a different email than Jubilee Day. Breakfast with Hersh was in a different email than the Sunset Movie and Music Series. You missed Moana, and now you have a pint-sized, coconut-bra-wearing angry princess glaring at you like this was a personal betrayal.
It was hard enough juggling three newsletters with boundaries apparently drawn by someone who had never set foot in Central Pennsylvania, attempted to merge onto 83 or heard a local explain that something is “only 15 minutes away” before adding, “unless you have to cross the river.”
But I have some AMAZING news!
I DO live in Central PA. I know where things are. I know where families actually live, work, play, go to camp, watch movies in parks, eat pancakes with mascots and frantically search for something to do with five children on a 94-degree Tuesday.
TWO publications.
TWO websites.
TWO social communities.
ONE macVAN.
ONE Rachael.
All the best family fun divided as Mother Nature intended:
BY. THE. RIVER.
Listen, I know the power of that river as well as anyone local. After all, I named one of my children River.
Yes, we really do cross the river. Sometimes we even paddle under the bridge. The new territories help organize local family fun, but they are definitely not meant to keep us on our own sides!
While we may not cross the Susquehanna for every pizza, preschool story time or playground meetup, plenty of things really are worth the trip: concerts, major festivals, museums, attractions, special events and possibly a truly exceptional doughnut.
That is why these new territories are designed to make your everyday family fun easier to find, not to build an imaginary wall down the middle of the Susquehanna. Subscribe to your home publication first, but stay subscribed to both if you want the full picture of everything happening across Central PA.
Meet Your BRAND-SPANKING-NEW Macaroni KID Regions
WEST OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
Macaroni KID Carlisle & the West Shore
Serving families in Carlisle, Shippensburg, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Enola, Lemoyne, New Cumberland, Wormleysburg, Boiling Springs, Dillsburg, Newville, Mount Holly Springs, Marysville and the surrounding communities west of the river.
EAST OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
Macaroni KID Hershey & Harrisburg
Serving families in Harrisburg, Hershey, Hummelstown, Middletown, Elizabethtown, Highspire, Steelton, Dauphin, Linglestown, Paxtonia, Lower Paxton, Swatara, Susquehanna Township, Marietta, Bainbridge, Maytown, Rheems and the surrounding communities east of the river.
YOUR HOME BASE IS NOT A BORDER
Yes, We Want You to Subscribe to Both!
Your home-side newsletter will prioritize the family fun most relevant to your everyday life: the nearby camps, classes, community events, playgrounds and places you can reach before someone falls asleep in the car.
But Central PA has incredible experiences on both sides of the Susquehanna. We strongly encourage families to receive both newsletters so you never miss the concerts, festivals, attractions, seasonal traditions and special events that are absolutely worth crossing the river for.
A LITTLE BEHIND-THE-SCENES EXPLANATION
West Shore Families: I Need You to OPT IN
As part of this makeover, the former Harrisburg & West Shore publication is absorbing the Hershey-to-Elizabethtown publication. Those subscriber lists can be merged automatically into the new Macaroni KID Hershey & Harrisburg region.
But here’s the catch: I cannot manually move my West Shore subscribers out of that publication and into the BRAND-NEW Macaroni KID Carlisle & the West Shore region, even though that is now where Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Enola, Lemoyne, New Cumberland and the entire West Shore belong.
The technology can merge thousands of subscribers...
But it cannot cross the river correctly without your help.
How verrrrry Central PA of it.
If you live west of the Susquehanna, you need to opt in to the new Carlisle & the West Shore newsletter so the most relevant local family fun keeps landing in your inbox.
It takes about 30 seconds. No long questionnaire. No request for your children’s shoe sizes. Just the information needed to make sure your newsletter knows which side of the river it belongs on.
West Shore Families: Your Action Is Needed
If you live west of the Susquehanna, please take 30 seconds and opt in to the brand-new Macaroni KID Carlisle & the West Shore newsletter.
And please stay subscribed to Hershey & Harrisburg, too. Your home newsletter keeps things convenient; both newsletters make sure you see everything worth crossing the river for.
OPT IN TO CARLISLE & THE WEST SHOREThe Same Macaroni KID You Know and Love
The same local mom behind the keyboard. The same macVAN somehow carrying seven people, 47 reusable bags and one mysterious shoe. I don’t think it’s even ours.
Just fewer missed movies, fewer dueling emails and a much better chance that the fun landing in your inbox is fun you can actually get to before someone falls asleep in the car.
Central PA family fun, finally divided the way Central Pennsylvanians understand it:
Are we crossing the river for this, or not?
Please Pardon Our Digital Dust
Please be patient with us as we merge and adjust websites, newsletters and social pages. There will likely be a little overlap, a few things temporarily living where they no longer belong and at least one moment when I wonder whether I have accidentally deleted the internet.
It’s all part of the transition! The geographic area and families we serve are not shrinking. We are simply reorganizing the same overall coverage into two stronger, more useful regions that better reflect how Central Pennsylvania families actually move through their communities.
Keep watching, too: we’ll have special events, giveaways and plenty more fun celebrating this BRAND-SPANKING-NEW Macaroni KID makeover.
Please Help Me Get the Word Out
If you know families in Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Enola, Lemoyne, New Cumberland, Carlisle, Shippensburg or anywhere else west of the Susquehanna, please send them this article.
Tag your West Shore friends, share the link and help make sure no one misses a movie, festival or pancake breakfast simply because the internet does not understand our river-based geography.
WEST SHORE FAMILIES
Make Carlisle & the West Shore Your Home Base
Subscribe so the family fun closest to home lands exactly where it belongs: in your inbox.
Then keep both newsletters, because the Susquehanna may organize our family fun, but it certainly does not get to keep us from it.
OPT IN TO CARLISLE & THE WEST SHORE
